Promoter Claims S.B. County Has Undermined Fest : Rock: Michael Scafuto alleges he was denied access to Glen Helen site because San Bernardino County officials rented grounds to second promoter for an earlier concert.

The promoter of a three-day rock festival scheduled to open Saturday at Glen Helen Regional Park accused San Bernardino County officials on Monday of attempting to undermine his event.

Michael Scafuto, promoter of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Main Event, alleged that his organization was denied access to the park and could not begin preparing for the festival because the San Bernardino County Parks Department violated his contract and rented the grounds to a second promoter last weekend.

San Bernardino County Chief Administrator Harry Mays acknowledged contracting with another promoter for a KLRD-FM Superfest concert last weekend but said that Scafuto had been aware of the Christian rock event and did not protest it.

“I think he’s not selling as many tickets as he expected to and he’s looking for somebody to blame,” Mays said. “If it goes to court, we’re prepared to prove that he was not only accepting of the additional concert, but thought it was advantageous to him.”

Scafuto claimed that the county’s actions have cost him thousands of dollars in overtime and could also threaten the safety of concertgoers.

“They are leaving me only 3 1/2 days to build a small city,” Scafuto said. “I’m scared to death that we will not be able to get this thing set up safely.”

Scafuto said he has only sold 8,000 tickets to date, but predicted attendance of about 90,000. The Labor Day weekend event has scheduled about 50 acts, ranging from such “oldie” entertainers as Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis to such contemporary artists as Tanya Tucker and R&B; act Tony! Toni! Tone!

Portions of the event are slated to be broadcast live during the Muscular Dystrophy annual telethon to more than 200 stations nationwide. Scafuto has pledged a minimum of $100,000 or 10% of the profits to the Muscular Dystrophy Assn., according to a spokesman for the charity.

“The county keeps throwing wrenches into the mix,” Scafuto said. “It’s as if they are trying to stop this event from taking place.”

A contract was signed on June 26, 1989, between Scafuto and the county to schedule the Labor Day weekend festival. The contract gave Scafuto complete access between Aug. 21 and Sept. 10 to an area in the park where Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Main Event was to be presented

Because attendance figures of 60,000 per day were projected, Scafuto was required to obtain a special use permit. Additional permits to provide adequate fire prevention, water dispersal, medical and police protection were required and have all been paid, according to Scafuto.

On March 26, 1990, the San Bernardino County Parks Department signed a contract with KLRD-FM president Jon Fugler for a Christian Rock Festival to be held Aug. 23-26.

The Christian Rock concert prevented him from gaining access to the grounds, Scafuto said, which he claimed hindered his ability to prepare for this weekend’s event.

Mark Yeager, of Yeager Construction, one of the companies hired to prepare the grounds, acknowledged that his company was unable to begin laying fence for the event on Aug. 21 as scheduled because of the KLRD concert.

San Bernardino’s Mays said that Scafuto gave verbal approval to the KLRD event several months earlier. He said that Scafuto overestimated the draw of his festival, procrastinated in paying his permit fees and was trying to use the county as a “scapegoat.”

Mays said that no contractual amendments were ever added to Scafuto’s contract to grant permission to any other promoter to use the grounds between Aug. 21 and Sept. 10.

Tom Potter, head of the San Bernardino County Parks Department, claimed that Scafuto granted permission for use of the park in connection with the KLRD Superfest event. Potter said Scafuto’s problems stem from inexperience not county bureaucracy.

“If his staff had complied with the terms of the permit fees in a more timely fashion, we wouldn’t be looking at all this hysteria in the 11th hour,” Potter said. “I personally discussed this matter with Michael’s people and he originally favored the other event. Now his ticket sales are so low, he’s running scared.”

Permit fees for government services provided by various agencies, were paid by Scafuto last week, according to the agencies.

Potter maintained that the Parks Department met with KLRD President Jon Fugler, KLRD Superfest co-promoter Matthew Chapman and Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Main Event on-site coordinator Jackie Ansler last March. The two promoters worked out a verbal agreement to split the costs for stage, refuse and sanitation equipment, but Scafuto backed out of the deal 2 1/2 weeks ago, Potter said. Scafuto denied ever agreeing to such an arrangement. Ansler could not be reached for comment.

Fugler said he never met with Potter, but that Chapman did. Chapman said that a verbal agreement had been established in the spring.

“We sat down and met with the Main Event people in March, but unfortunately nothing was ever documented,” Chapman said on Monday. “I haven’t heard of any complaints regarding our presence at Glen Helen from Mr. Scafuto. And as far as working with the county--they have been great to us.”